The present invention relates to furniture and, more specifically, to drawer pedestals for office furniture.
Drawer pedestals are capable of increasing the storage space in office and home environments. Conventional drawer pedestals are constructed to either stand alone or be positioned under a desk, table or similar structure.
A typical drawer pedestal includes several drawers positioned one over the other in an open-faced box-like cabinet. The cabinet includes drawer slides fastened to its sidewalls. The drawers include rollers that interfit within the drawer slides to allow them to be individually slid in and out from the cabinet. Most of the components of the typical drawer pedestal are constructed of metal and fastened together with screws or bolts.
Although conventional drawer pedestals are capable of increasing storage space, they suffer a number of shortcomings. First, because the drawer components of the drawer pedestals are usually constructed from metal, the resulting unit is usually quite heavy. This makes shipping expensive, and makes movement of the pedestals around the office or home more difficult. Second, with various moving metal parts and fasteners to connect components, it is difficult and time consuming to assemble the drawer pedestals. Third, because the components are metal and relatively heavy, they usually do not withstand stacking, which makes storage of pre-assembly components space-consuming.
One solution to the problems associated with conventional metal drawer pedestals is to incorporate more plastic parts. This is done by replacing the metal panels of the drawer pedestal and drawers-with plastic panels. However, these plastic panels still are connected to one another with screws, bolts and other fasteners. These fasteners regularly are visible after assembly, leaving the finished product aesthetically unpleasing.
The aforementioned problems are overcome by the present invention wherein a plastic drawer pedestal is provided that includes an outer shell and a substructure that are snap-fit together.
In one aspect of the invention, the drawer pedestal unit includes a shell a substructure that interfits with the shell. The substructure has locking tabs or prongs around a flange. The shell includes corresponding slots or detents around a rim so that when the rim and flange are pushed together, the tabs and slots or detents engage one another and hold the parts together. Optionally, the slots or detents and tab or prongs may be disposed on either the shell or substructure.
In a variation of the first aspect, the locking tabs include are pairs or other select groups of side-by-side tabs. The slots are corresponding pairs or other select groups of relatively small apertures or detents into which the tabs snap and interlock to hold the shell and substructure together.
In a second aspect of the invention, guide tabs are included on the shell or substructure to assist a user in aligning and snapping the parts together.
The present invention also provides a method for assembling a drawer pedestal including: positioning the substructure adjacent the shell; aligning first and second locking structures on the substructure and shell; and moving at least one of the shell and the substructure toward one another until the first and second locking structure engages one another.
The drawer pedestal of the present invention offers many benefits. First, the invention improves upon existing plastic drawer pedestals by using a novel attachment mechanism including single or multi-tabbed interlocking structures and an easy-snap construction. By using interlocking structures including multi-tabbed locking tabs and corresponding, relatively small slots, as opposed to one large slot, a significant increase in the strength of the drawer pedestal is realized due to plastic processing limitations. Second, by eliminating, or at least reducing, the number of conventional fasteners used, the pedestal is less costly to produce, and has an improved finished look. Third, the components of the pedestal are constructed of relatively simple shapes that are conducive to easy stacking. Finally, the number of components of the pedestal is small, which decreases the overall cost of the unit.